Never Let Go
by Razo
Summary: If Sunao pulls away, Sora will hold on tighter. But can the two deal with what may be in store for them? The stakes are higher than ever and the pair will have to once again rely on each other in order to survive. Updated!
1. Chapter 1

Okay! So I haven't written much in a VERY long time. Hopefully it isn't too horrible?

This one takes place a few months after the ep. 13. I haven't decided how long this is going to be. Reviews are appreciated! If you like it, let me know so I can get an idea of what I am doing right and wrong.

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Dingy moonbeams flowed between the cold iron bars that separated Sunao Fujimori from the rest of the world. He wrapped his arms around himself, clinging to the warmth of his own body. His thoughts, as sporadic as they were, always seemed to linger on the same thing on nights like this. Would he ever be released from this hell? It had been so long since he had seen the outside world that he had almost forgotten what grass felt like beneath bare feet, or what it sounded like when the wind rustled through the trees on a lazy afternoon. It had been so long. As Fujimori fell somewhere between consciousness and sleep, drearily watching his own breath condense into a smoke-like fog in the cold, he heard the footsteps. The sound was all too familiar. Even as the fear settled into his belly he couldn't muster the strength to move. He would stay huddled in his little corner till they came for him, just as he did the day before, and the day before that. It didn't matter now anyway, there was no hope. No future. No Sora.

The faceless men in the spotless white lab coats once again pulled him from his cell and escorted him to a small room down the hall. Sunao stared blankly at the large glass tub that was filled to its brim with water. A shiver traveled down his spine, but he couldn't bring himself to do anything more than stare. This was the experiment he hated more than any other. He could take the beatings. He could even endure the shock therapy. No matter how many times he came to that small room at the end of the hall his reaction remained the same. He was paralyzed with fear.

Everything went hazy, as it often did during this particular 'therapy' session. He was stripped of his clothes and lowered into tub. The water was uncomfortably hot. A gloved hand would hold his head under for a moment or two, the water burning his eyes as he kicked and clawed at the glass searching for something to hold on to. Just when he thought he would surely drown, he was lifted up just enough to get a few gasps of air before being lowered back into the water. All the while Aizawa sat calmly in a chair watching, jotting down the occasional note. Twenty minutes that seemed like twenty hours passed. Finally Aizawa nodded to one of the faceless men and Sunao was lifted from the vat of water and instructed to stand over a small drain in the floor.

"No progress. Until progress has been made, you realize we will have to continue as we have?" Aizawa said coldly. The trembling young boy stared at him through blurry tear filled eyes unable to speak. "Bind his arms and legs and try again," Sunao hadn't even enough time to comprehend what Aizawa had said before he was bound at the wrists and ankles and was being lowered into the water once more.

"No! PLEASE… n-no don't do this p-please don't do this! LET ME GO! LET ME GO!" he screamed and thrashed wildly to no avail. "HASHIBA! HELP ME! SOMEONE! NO! please!"

"He can't hear you, Fujimori. He abandoned you, remember?" Aizawa's deep voice replied. "No one can help you, Fujimori. Fujimori…Fujimori"

"FUJIMORI?" Sunao sat straight up in his bed with a start, almost bumping heads with the blue haired boy who hovered over him. "Woah! Hey, calm down. It's just me," Sora said grasping his shoulders firmly. It took Sunao a few moments to realize that it had all been a dream. He wasn't at the lab, he was with Sora in their room. He struggled to catch his breath as he wiped a sweat soaked strand of pink hair from his face.

"H-hashiba… sorry. I must have been dreaming," He stuttered, feigning a weak smile.

"Dream? Looked more like a nightmare to me, are you alright?" Sora asked worriedly as he took a seat next to the smaller boy on the bed. "You woke me up with all of the moving around you did, and when I tried to wake you up you started screaming. You had me worried, I didn't think you were going to wake up for a minute," Sora hesitantly put an arm around his trembling roommate

"I'm fine. Just a stupid dream," Sunao muttered staring at the floor. This routine was growing tiresome. He was free now, and would never again have to return to the lab. Hell, the lab wasn't more than a great mound of ash now. But nonetheless, Sunao found himself becoming paranoid. It began a few weeks after the incident at the lab, and had only grown progressively worse. At first it was just an uneasy feeling of being watched, later on Nao could swear to seeing Aizawa's face in every crowd of passing strangers. And then the nightmares began; every night it seemed he would relive some part of his past that he only wished to forget. It seemed that just simply moving on with his life wasn't going to be an option no matter how much he wished it could be.

"Fujimori, I know that you have been having a hard time lately, but I don't think this is normal. I think we should go talk to Nanami tomorrow,"

"I just… No,"

"Why not?"

"Because I said so, now just leave it at that. I said I am fine. Everyone has a bad dream every once in a while, it's no big deal," Sunao said pulling away to lay on his side and stare at the wall. It was a tactic that he had all but mastered to show his dissatisfaction with Sora. If you lay on your side and stare at the wall long enough, you always win the argument by default.

"You know, you could be a little nicer. The only reason I'm even bringing it up is because I care!" Sora barked as he climbed over the side of the bed, obstructing Nao's wonderful view of the wall. The two stared at each other their faces only inches apart for a moment or two, Sunao's cheeks slowly beginning to match his hair. Hashiba really cared for him that much?

"I never asked for you to be so damn concerned, now leave me alone!" he growled. With a quick flick of his hair, Sunao promptly rolled over, pulling the blankets over his head. Sora sat wide eyed for a moment, shocked at the harsh words his roommate had thrown at him.

"You're acting like a baby, you know that?" he muttered, but there was no reply from beneath the Nao shaped lump of blankets.

/-/-/-/-/-/

"Good morning!" Matsuri chirped as he jogged up to meet his slightly worse for wear looking friend.

"Eh…" Sora grunted in reply, as he glanced up at the bubbly blonde from under puffy lids. He had always wondered where Matsuri got all of that energy from and had found it slightly annoying; that morning however he found it downright unbearable.

"You don't look so good. Did Nao-chan keep you up all night?" Matsuri giggled with a wink. Sora would have glared at him but that just would have taken too much energy.

"Yeah, as a matter of fact he did- but NOT in the way you are thinking," Sora replied with a sigh. Now that he thought of it, he wouldn't mind being so tired if it had been under _those_ circumstances.

"Did you two have a fight? I swear you are just like a married couple with the way you two bicker," the blonde remarked casually. Sora grimaced at the comment, but ignored it nonetheless. "Speaking of Nao, where is he?"

"Sleeping. Trying to drag him out of bed on a normal day is a chore in itself but this morning he wouldn't budge. He's been having problems sleeping at night. I tried to get him to talk to Nanami about it, but you know how stubborn he is,"

"Hmm. It's strange for him to neglect school like this. That's more like something I'd expect from you," Sora almost spokeout at this remark, but decided he couldn't argue with a true statement. "Now that you mention it though, he has been acting odd lately. It's so hard to tell with him sometimes. I guess he's been through a lot. Maybe you should just sit down and talk to him? Maybe if he just talked about whatever it is that is bothering him, he would feel better?" Matsuri's tone became more serious.

As the two entered the building and headed to class Sora found his mind lingering on the night before. Sunao had been screaming bloody murder and he had a guess as to what sort of nightmare he was having. It broke his heart when Fujimori had called out his name. He was sure that in this horrible dream Sunao's plea for help went unanswered. Maybe Matsuri was right.Sora had considered asking Sunao about what happened to himduring his days after he was left to fend for himself at the lab, but somehowhe could never get the words out to ask. He wasn't really sure that he wanted to know or that Fujimori would even be willing to talk about it. Still, it killed Sora to think aboutSunao still having to deal with it all on his own.He made a promisethat he would never leave him alone again, right? Though he wasn't ready to admit it out loud yet, he loved Fujimori. Even if it meant hearing things he found hard to hear he would listen. Even if it meant remembering things he didn't want to remember he would endure it. If Fujimori pulled away, Sora would just have to hold on tighter, because he was never going to let go again.

/-/-/-/-/-/

"10:30?" Sunao shrieked as he frantically ran around the room trying to get his books together as quickly as possible. He was late- very late. He had ten minutes to throw himself together if he was going to make it in time for his next class. "How could Hashiba let me sleep in like this?" he mused to himself as he ran a brush through his long hair before tying it back and heading out the door.

Sunao wondered if Hashiba was angry with him over the night before. He had looked so worried and all that Sunao had to offer him in return was harsh words and anger. He really needed to get a grip. Things were better now than they had ever been, what did he have to be so depressed about? He had Hashiba back in his life as well as all of his friends. He would never have to go back to the lab or endure those awful experiments ever again. Even so, Nao still felt like something wasn't right. Something was eating away at him and as a result he was turning it into anger and projecting it at all the wrong people. Maybe it would have been better for everyone else if he had just stayed Aizawa's lab rat. Maybe it's what he deserved.

Sunao had only made it half way to class before he slowed his pace from a dead run to a slow jog. He was already late after all, so there was no sense in needlessly overexerting himself. He had been in such a hurry that he wondered if he had remembered to grab everything he needed. His books all seemed to be there, as well as his phone. He stuck a hand in his pocket to check for his keys which were also there. Keys? Had he remembered to lock the door? He quickly shrugged the thought off as unimportant as he entered the building and sprinted down the hall just as the bell rang.

/-/-/-/-/-/

Slowly the door to Sora Hashiba and Sunao Fujimori's room opened.

"Such careless boys. I suppose I shall have to leave them a surprise to remind them why leaving the door unlocked isn't a good idea," the intruder said to himself as he closed the door behind him.

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(hehe don't you just love mysterious cliff hangers?)

So who is this mysterious intruder? Why has poor Nao-kun been so out of sorts lately? I guess we shall all find out in the next chappie!


	2. Chapter 2

Chappie 2 already? Hmm. I finished this one much quicker than usual, so hopefully there aren't too many mistakes?

This chapter is a lot longer than the first. Reason being, after reading the first I felt like it was too short. Plus I had a lot of stuff to cram into this chapter to get the plot rolling.

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"So you finally decided to show up for school?" Sora said loudly through a mouthful of food as he sat his lunch tray on the table and took a seat next to Sunao. The smaller boy grunted in reply, not raising his head from the table. "Man, Minato sure was pissed about you being late. You're braver than I am, if I were late for Minato's class I just wouldn't show at all," again Sunao grunted in reply. "Uhm… Fujimori? Aren't you going to eat?"

Nao instead replied to this with a drawn out groan and slowly looked up at his friend pleadingly.

"How can I think about food? Not only was I late, but Minato is making me stay after school. On top of that, I am positive I failed not only my math exam but my literature exam as well. After being lectured for ten minutes about punctuality by Minato, I was called into the office and told that… ugh… just nevermind" Sunao turned his head and stared at the floor.

"Called into the office? Surely you weren't in that much trouble for being late," Sora said as he shoveled food into his mouth.

"No… it wasn't because of that… It was because…"

"THERE YOU ARE NAO-CHAN!" Matsuri interrupted as he pushed a chair between the two and plopped down. "Now that I have you both in the same spot, I have to talk to you about a job!"

"Could this day get any worse?" Sunao grumbled.

"Aww! do we have to? Things have been so nice lately without having to run around and work ourselves to death!" cried Sora with a pout.

"Of course you have to! It is our duty, as the Jack of All Trades to provide the people with the services they need," The blonde rambled, his eyes shining as if he were spouting off poetry. He shoved a piece of paper in front of Sora's face.

"Part time help at the hospital? We're not doctors! What the hell are we supposed to do?" Sunao spat as he ripped the paper from Sora's hands.

"It's not exactly like that, Nao-Chan. Read down a little further,"

"Hmm. They want us to boost the morale of the patients? That doesn't sound too bad, I guess. What do we have to do? Walk around and spend time with them? Watch television with them, play card games, stuff like that?" Sora said reading the paper over Sunao's shoulder.

"Read further Hashiba. They want us to dress up in costumes. I remember what happened the last three times we dressed in costume, so count me out. There is no way I am agreeing to this one," Nao said flatly. His eyes narrowed as he glared at Matsuri. "Is this just another plot to get me in a dress?"

"Come on now. Think of all of those poor poor children. They are sick, and they need the Jack of All Trades to come in and lighten up their day!" Matsuri bubbled.

"It's at the children's hospital?" Sora blinked.

"No. But you will only have to work the children's ward,"

"That doesn't sound so bad. I guess you can count me in," Sora said with a grin. It wasn't like him to willingly agree to a job, but this was different. As kind as he was by nature, Sora genuinely felt that this job had the potential to help people. "What about you, Fujimori? Are you in?"

"I… I can't. Sorry Hashiba, Matsuri. I need to go…" before either boy could stop their friend, Sunao had taken off across the cafeteria and was out of sight.

/-/-/-/-/-/

"Hmm. And so you're telling me that's why Fujimori was late to my class?" Minato pushed his glasses higher on the bridge of his nose.

"Yeah, I just thought I should tell you… He's been acting so strange lately. I tried to get him to come and talk to you, Nanami. But he wouldn't hear of it,"

"It sounds like Fujimori has a lot on his mind. I think maybe we should take him to be examined by Ayano," Nanami said deep in thought, as he sipped at his coffee.

"He'll never agree to it," Sora mumbled. "And now he is stressed out on top of all this because of you!" Sora pointed a finger at Minato.

"While we are in that classroom we are student and teacher. As such, punishment for his tardiness was necessary. When he comes by my room after school I will talk to him,"

"Punishment may have been necessary, but wasn't staying after school and the lectures enough? Did you really have to have him called into the main office too?" as Sora spoke Minato scratched his head.

"Hold up a second, Sora. I never did any such thing,"

"You didn't? Huh… I wonder what that was all about then," Sora said, puzzling as to what exactly was going on.

"Sora, if Sunao's strange behavior has been going on as long as you say it has, why didn't you come to us sooner?" asked Nanami.

"Well, I guess at first I just though Fujimori was being his usually moody self. But it hasn't got any better, if anything it's getting worse," Sora sighed. "Last night he was crying in his sleep. He is constantly lashing out at me… more than normal that is. And today at lunch he ran off and left Matsuri and me just sitting there. After that, I decided that if he wasn't going to come to you himself, that I would. So I skipped study hall and came to talk to you,"

"Try not to worry about it so much. I'll have a talk with him this afternoon. You did the right thing by telling us," Minato said with a hand on Sora's head, ruffling his hair. "Now you go on back to class. This time I will forgive you for cutting a class, but don't ever let me catch you doing it again,"

Sora slowly walked down the hall, his mind humming with a thousand different questions. He hoped that Fujimori wouldn't be too angry with him for going behind his back and talking to Nanami and Minato, but it couldn't be helped. Hopefully everything would blow over soon, and they could get back to their daily routine. Sora thought it was funny; before he had Fujimori in his life things were so much calmer and he rarely had that wrenching pain in his chest that only Sunao could trigger. He wouldn't trade that feeling or Fujimori for all of the pink stuffed elephants in the world.

/-/-/-/-/-/

"So… how did it go?"

"I'm NOT speaking to you. EVER AGAIN," Sunao grumbled as he stared straight ahead and quickened his pace. Sora had waited outside the school for Nao, but evidently he wasn't too happy with Sora's intervention. He had hoped Minato wouldn't mention that he had gone to talk to him about everything, but that hope was all but dashed when a very frustrated and angry looking Nao came storming out of the building not even stopping to say hello to his friend. Shinichirou Minato was a sadist he concluded with a sigh as he could come up with no other explanation as to why he couldn't have just kept his big mouth shut.

"Look, Fujimori. I'm sorry. But I didn't know what else to do. You weren't going to talk to them on your own and I was worried. Wouldn't you have done the same thing if it were me?" Sunao stopped so quickly that Sora almost walked right into him.

"It doesn't matter anyway. I won't be here for much longer," Sunao said staring at his feet. He rubbed his eyes, brushing away a few stray tears that threatened to make their escape.

"Won't be here? Don't be ridiculous," Sora said placing a hand on Nao's shoulder.

"When I came to this school the whole thing was secretly funded by Aizawa. He freed me from the lab under the condition that I was to attend school here and find you. After it was all over, I was supposed to go back to the lab and continue to be used as a test subject. But the lab burned down and Aizawa is dead. My tuition here was only paid up until the end of this quarter and you know I don't have any money other than the pocket change I make from Matsuri's stupid schemes. That's why I had to go to the office earlier today… it wasn't because of nii-chan punishing me for being late, that was just added torment. It was to inform me that I was to be moved out by the end of the month. They already have a new roommate picked out for you and everything,"

"What? That can't happen," Sora could hardly believe what he was hearing. "Did you tell Minato and Nanami? I'm sure that they can arrange something,"

"No. And I'm not going to tell them. I've been a big enough bother… to all of you. I think maybe, it's for the best,"

"What the hell are you saying, are you stupid? Where exactly do you think you are going to go? What makes you think that I am going to let you go so easily?" Sora pulled Sunao into his arms and held him tightly. "We can fix this… all of it. If you'll only let me, I promise I will make it all right again," Nao pushed him away, the tears that ran down his cheeks glistening in dim light of the setting sun.

"You think you can fix everything? You can't fix me, Hashiba. It's too late for that. If you wanted to fix me so badly you should have tried it ten years ago," His voice wavered.

"At least let me try," said Sora, fighting back his own tears. "I want you to tell me everything. Be more open with me. At least then… at least then we have a chance,"

"You don't want to hear everything, Hashiba. I can promise you that. And there are no chances left," Sunao broke down. He fell to his knees, scraping them on the rough pavement. He looked up at Sora, his eyes wide and his body trembling. "I feel like I'm losing my mind. I know Aizawa is dead, but I feel like I'm constantly being watched, like at any given moment I might be dragged back to the lab. I can't sleep because I remember things. I can't eat because I feel sick all the time. I just want a normal life, that's all I've ever wanted. What's wrong with me, Kuu-chan?"

"It'll be okay," Sora said kneeling beside Nao, pulling him against his chest. "I'm here for you now, and everthing will be okay,"

"It WON'T be okay! Nothing will ever be okay," Sunao pushed Sora away once more, and slowly stood up. "And you keep saying that you are here for me now… Where were you back then? Where were you when Aizawa would have his 'lab technicians' beat me within an inch of my life to see how I would react? Where were you during that so called 'fear conditioning therapy'? That's the one were they all but drowned me, EVERY SINGLE NIGHT. Or did you even know about that? I don't hate you anymore for leaving me behind… but it still hurts. I know that it wasn't your fault that you let go of my hand. But in ten years you couldn't have come back for me? I waited ten years, Hashiba. I was reaching out for you for ten years and grasped nothing but air. That's why… that's why I think it's for the better that I just go,"

"How long have you felt like this?" Sora asked, unable to make eye contact due to his own guilt.

"I don't know. I just… I'm sorry… I really am sorry," and with that Nao took off running through the courtyard. He didn't know where he was going exactly, but he knew that he couldn't face Sora after all of the things he had just said. So he ran in no direction in particular to no place in particular, his heart crumbling with every step. Sora wanted to call out to him, to run after Sunao and force him to understand that he would make up for everything, but his legs refused to run and his voice refused to speak.

/-/-/-/-/-/

By the time Sora convinced his legs to obey him again it was dark out, and the moon was full and the color of rust. He could remember a time when he was young that the moon looked just as it did right then. No matter how hard he tried to force the memory out of his mind it remained, persistently reminding him of things he had all but forgotten. Clearly enough that it could have been yesterday, Sora could envision the room (if you could call it that,) he and Sunao shared at the lab. Sunao. Where had he run off to anyway? Sora wasn't sure how to handle the current situation. He supposed he had been naïve to believe that ten years of hurting had vanished just because Sora and Nao had reunited and rekindled their friendship. He could have smacked himself for thinking that Nao would just pick up where they left off like nothing had ever happened. Regardless of all that, he would die before he let Fujimori out of his life again and even if it pissed Nao off, he would go and talk to Nanami and Minato in the morning about working something out with the money problem.

As Sora approached his room he noticed a light shining from under the door. Upon further investigation he realized that the door was unlocked. Nao had come back home? The thought came with some relief, at least now he wouldn't have to go out searching for him until all hours of the night. Now came the question of what he would say to him. He didn't really know if he could come up with the right words. He loved Fujimori, and he was fairly sure that his affections were requited. Maybe tonight was the right time to finally say those words that he found so hard to say.

"Fujimori?" He spoke gently as he knocked quietly on the door. After getting no reply he slowly cracked the door and peeked in. To his surprise, the room was not only empty, but there was a large wooden crate sitting just inside the door. The crate gave him an uneasy feeling, and for a moment he considered just putting it outside and pretending he'd never even seen it. Curiosity got the better of him and he slowly kneeled beside it and lifted off the lid. "What the hell?"

The crate was filled with many things: photographs, documents, cassette tapes, even a small ragged gown. Sora felt a chill run up his spine as he slowly lifted the gown out of the crate. It was identical to the one he'd worn while at the lab. There were telltale blood stains and holes marring the stiff yellowed fabric. He dropped it on the floor and slowly lifted out a stack of photos. As his eyes slowly focused on the small boy in the picture, he felt his heart drop. The small text in the corner of each photo was all he needed.

_Experiment #50061 A. Photographic Documentation Series 1B. _

_Subject: Male/ Identification # 0012/ Given Name: Fujimori Sunao_

Sora's stomach folded as he flipped through the pictures. Some showed the small boy standing near a tall board marking his height, his eyes looking empty and defeated. Other pictures were close up shots of healing wounds and scars; there were even photos marked 'ongoing treatments' showing the boy looking very skinny and malnourished. He slowly moved around the items in the crate, examining each one. Some of the tapes were labeled as 'audio documentation' while others were labeled in sessions. There was written documentation of every experiment conducted on both himself and Fujimori. Where had all of this come from? Aizawa? But wasn't he dead? If Nagase had managed to make it out of the lab before it burned to the ground then wasn't it possible that Aizawa had too? But even with that said, shouldn't all of these things have burned along with the lab?

Sora felt sick to his stomach. Surely it was all just a cruel prank? As much as that's what he wanted to believe he knew better. He was only glad that he found it before Nao, he could only imagine what finding something like that would do to him in his current state. Sora had been so caught up in the mysterious crate that he entirely forgot about the fact that Fujimori still had not returned home. He shoved the crate in the corner, lovingly placing Toshizo on top of it, as if not only to hide it, but to guard it as well. He would investigate the contents of the crate later, there were more important things to worry about for the time being. It kind of spooked him to think that Nao was out there somewhere, upset and alone while this person who obviously knew about their past was also out there lurking around in the shadows. If they had no qualms with breaking into someone's home, then why wouldn't they want to do something to hurt Nao? Before he realized it he was running through the crisp night air.

"Fuuujimooooriiiii!" he called as he hopped a small fence and took off through the bushes. Where would he have gone? Matsuri's house? Surely not. Even though they were all friends it was no secret that Matsuri's antics irritated Sunao to no end. He was equally sure that he wouldn't have gone to Nanami and Minato's house. Maybe he had gone to Ichikawa's? That's where he had run off to the last time, right? While Sora didn't think it was likely, he thought it was worth a try. And so he headed off towards Ichikawa's place, trying hard to push the notion out of his mind that something was seriously wrong.

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Okay so when I said that the mysterious intruder would be revealed in this chapter I lied, sorry. But it got you to read the second chapter, right? (that's right, I'm not above using trickery to make sure that my story is read.)

Ah also. I wasn't sure if there were any real numbers assigned to Nao as far as the whole lab thingy goes, so I just made some up. So if there were numbers and I just didn't know about it since my obsession is limited to the anime only so far, just uhm… pretend it's right or something. o.o

Reviews are still appreciated. Tell me what I am doing right so I can keep doing it, and what I am doing wrong so I can fix it!

Anyway, lots of stuff happening in Chapter 3. Possibly some lemony goodness. Who knows? I do, but I'm supposed to know, I'm the author. Ermm…so I had a point in there somewhere I just don't know what it was. Oh yeah. Review, and watch for the next chapter.


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